Last Weekend I got to meet and hang with Johny Barbata, what a neat guy to talk to, for all that don't know Johny, he was the drummer for the Turtles then went on to play for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young then played for Jefferson Airplane and Starship. he now lives here in Oklahoma .

I recently had a somewhat similar experience. I used to play, until a couple years ago, with a lady singer, and got the chance to share the stage with her (and her band) last weekend, on a concert where I was also playing as bass player and director of another singer's band. So we met, we talked, her band's director is a good friend of mine, and then, after the meet and greet, the usual "So, who's occupying my seat now?" led to "You will want to meet him in person", and then he introduced me to somebody I wanted to know since.. 20 years ago. This is a Venezuelan guy who left for England in the late 60s/early 70s along with other fellow musicians (most of them I have already played with), but he remained there, and for good!. The very first news I had about him were in the late 80s, when, while watching a music video, a friend told me "That guy in the Bass is Venezuelan, and is friend of a friend of mine". "Can't be! Really?" I asked. "But he's playing with JIMMY PAGE!". The name of this wonderful, gentle fellow is Durban Laverde. The guy happens to have much more under his sleeve than only Page. Played with Peter Green, made sessions for David Gilmour, and a lot more. Ended up being a gentleman, a very kind person. He returned to the country almost 20 years ago, and has been mainly doing production work. It is so nice when you end up meeting somebody you admire (Although not an Alembic player, haha!! He has an endorsement with Warwick since more than 20 years ago, but showed deep interest on my Epic 5. Who knows... maybe another Alembician convert soon?